Recovered Afghan treasures visit British Museum

The British Museum is exhibiting scores of artifacts from ancient Afghanistan that were thought lost during decades of invasion, war and Taliban rule.

The show includes gold, glass, stone and ivory objects dating back as much as 4,000 years. The highlight is a trove of gold jewelry from a 2,000-year-old nomadic burial ground.

Many of the objects survived because staff at Afghanistan's National Museum hid them away during years of civil war and rule by the fundamentalist Taliban, who demolished much pre-Islamic art in the belief that it was idolatrous.

In recent years the items have been touring the world to showcase Afghanistan's rich cultural heritage.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai is opening the show Tuesday at the London museum, where it will run until July.